Friedman Unit
The Friedman Unit, or simply Friedman, Note: the General's name is Petraeus. is a Wikipedia:tongue-in-cheek Wikipedia:neologism. One Friedman Unit is equal to six months, specifically the "next six months", a period repeatedly declared by Wikipedia:New York Times columnist Wikipedia:Thomas Friedman to be the most critical of the then-ongoing Wikipedia:Iraq War |coauthors= |title=So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits--and the President--Failed on Iraq |year=2008 |publisher=Union Square Press/Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. |pages=177-79 |quote= | url=http://books.google.com/books?id=WAZNHKWqAbIC&pg=PA177#v=onepage&q&f=false |isbn=9781402756573 }} even though such pronouncements extended back over two and a half years. History The term is in reference to a May 16, 2006, article by Wikipedia:Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) detailing the repeated use by columnist Wikipedia:Thomas Friedman of "the next six months" as the period in which, according to Friedman, "we're going to find out... whether a decent outcome is possible" in the Wikipedia:Iraq War. As documented by FAIR, Friedman had been making such six-month predictions for a period of two and a half years, on at least fourteen different occasions, starting with a column in the November 30, 2003, edition of The New York Times, in which he stated: "The next six months in Iraq—which will determine the prospects for democracy-building there—are the most important six months in U.S. foreign policy in a long, long time." In September, 2007, Wikipedia:Thomas Friedman agreed not to call for any more F.U.s: "Stephen Colbert brings on Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat.... Colbert offers up the same six months (also known as a Friedman Unit or FU) that Friedman has spent the last four years claiming would be all we need to see "success in Iraq," but Friedman admits we're all out of FUs." However, in July, 2008, he again called for a delay in Wikipedia:Barack Obama's plan to withdraw troops from Iraq, in effect adopting Wikipedia:John McCain's position. Even after Barack Obama had designated the summer of 2010 as his goal for starting to bring American troops home from Iraq, with the end of 2010 as his deadline, in October, 2008, Friedman was reported as calling for another Friedman unit, giving his opinion that, if elected, President Obama should let troops remain until 2011. Wikipedia:A Way with Words noted that Friedman had also been calling for more Friedman units in other contexts. This refers to his appearance on Wikipedia:The Daily Show June 12, 2006. The term has been used in puns, for example, "Commander of the Friedman Unit," an article about the political hopes of Friedman for a third-party candidate in the U.S. presidential race of 2012. Impact It is used in discussions of whether it's too soon to tell if the U.S. is making progress. It worked its way into commentary on the war and whether an interval was, indeed, critical. The unit is also used to measure the progress of American goals in other Middle Eastern countries, such as Afghanistan in 2009. "Ah, the Friedman unit, that beloved Internet tradition denoting the six-month increment many pundits believe will prove decisive in any war, only to be subject to an endless addition of … Friedman units." Other authors have been inspired by the Friedman unit to invent other Friedman-based terms: * "Friedman's Choice states that "our real choices in Iraq are 10 months or 10 years. Either we commit the resources to entirely rebuild the place over a decade, for which there is little support, or we tell everyone that we will be out within 10 months, or sooner, and we'll deal with the consequences from afar." References External links * Center for American Progress interactive timeline Wikipedia:Category:Communication of falsehoods Wikipedia:Category:Units of time Wikipedia:Category:Occupation of Iraq Wikipedia:Category:Political neologisms Category:Political neologisms Category:Units of time Category:Occupation of Iraq Category:Communication of falsehoods Category:Rhetoric Category:Public relations